Time for Montreal Alouettes to suck it up against Riders

By Herb Zurkowsky, The GazetteSeptember 15, 2012

There comes a point in every team’s season where a statement must be made, where a team must display some character and intestinal fortitude. For the Alouettes, that time has arrived following a 33-point humiliating defeat last weekend at British Columbia.

“I would say so,” concurred linebacker Chip Cox. “We’ve been going back and forth. We’ve had great games. We’ve had bad games. It’s about time for us to come out and make a statement that this is who we are. We’re not going to be going back and forth ... back and forth.

“We don’t have an identity yet.”

The Als will attempt to improve on their 6-4 record Sunday afternoon (1 p.m., TSN, RDS, CJAD Radio-800) at Molson Stadium against Saskatchewan, which has won its last two, following a five-game losing streak, and sits at 5-5. Montreal, which had won four consecutive games until suffering its annual West Coast meltdown, might have caught a break against the Roughriders. Starting quarterback Darian Durant will miss the game with a hip flexor, and is being replaced by Canadian Football League rookie Drew Willy.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Riders have split four games in Montreal since Marc Trestman became the Als’ head coach in 2008. And Trestman also remembers Hamilton’s Quinton Porter, unheralded at the time, passing for more than 400 yards in a game that season against Montreal.

In an attempt to solidify the Als’ porous secondary — at least until Billy Parker returns from his hamstring injury — Trestman and defensive coordinator Jeff Reinebold have decided to make some position shifts. The most significant is defensive-back Dwight Anderson moving to boundary cornerback, providing the team with experience on the weak-side, where he’ll combine with halfback Jerald Brown. In an attempt to camouflage their inexperience, corner Seth Williams moves to the field (strong-side). Wopamo Osaisai, the field corner against the Lions, moves inside, to halfback. Kyries Hebert remains at safety.

The Als are allowing an average of nearly 292 yards passing per game while surrendering an average of 31 points. Even in the passing-rich CFL, that’s a recipe for disaster.

“We’ve got to get better back there,” Trestman admitted. “I think we’ve ascended up front. We’ve cleaned things up quite a bit. We’re still not where we need to be in the back end. We’ve had some unbelievable moments and stretches where we’ve played very well in the back end, which makes us believe we can be good on a consistent basis.

“It’s a long season,” he added. “We’ve got to find a way to clean up that part of our football. I think D.A. feels very comfortable with the move.”

As well he should. Anderson played cornerback with the Calgary Stampeders before signing with the Als as a free agent in 2011. He normally lined up on the strong-side, until the team employed match coverage and he ended up on the boundary, lined up against the opposing team’s better receivers. When Anderson arrived in Montreal, he was moved to halfback in an attempt to get him closer to the ball.

“I feel good about it. This gives the team a different look,” Anderson said. “A lot of big plays happen simply because guys aren’t in the right place. We’ve given up a lot of big plays like that. Our problem was our edges, letting too many things happen out on the edges.

“This is something I’m used to playing,” he added. “There’s no shock. It’s like riding a bicycle. I bring experience at the corner, experience in this league and understanding route coverages. There’s a sense of urgency you’ve got to have on the edge. You’re trying to keep everything inside.”

But that’s only one of Montreal’s defensive mandates. Playing the inexperienced Willy, making his first pro start — other than a United Football League stint — it’s imperative the Als apply pressure and present different looks, forcing him to go through his reads, hold onto the ball and then make a perfect throw.

The 6-foot-4, 218-pound Willy has passed for 342 yards and three touchdowns this season. He has come off the bench the last two weeks, replacing the injured Durant. The 25-year-old rallied his team to a come-from-behind victory at Winnipeg last week, moving the Riders 43 yards in three plays on the final series in only 24 seconds to set up the game-winning field goal.

Willy is not as mobile as Durant but will run when necessary. He gained 52 yards on six carries against the Blue Bombers.

“He was extremely accurate in college,” Trestman said. “It’s very apparent the team believes in him as well. They’ll play for him.”

Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo, meanwhile, will attempt to rebound from his sub-par performance against B.C. Calvillo completed his opening four passes, gaining 77 yards and leading Montreal to a touchdown. But he was held to a total of 152 yards, his streak of eight consecutive 300-yard passing games coming to a crashing halt.

“The challenge is to bounce back from something like that because of how we performed,” Calvillo said.

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